Stephen Hart continues to relive the unfathomable loss that will stay with him for the rest of his life.

“I’ve been through the details of that day over and over and over,” the former Canadian men’s national team head coach told the Toronto Sun in an exclusive interview from his Nova Scotia home this week.

That October day, of course, saw Hart’s troops lose a laugher in San Pedro Sula, where a draw against Honduras would have seen Canada through to the final stage of World Cup qualifying for the first time since 1998.

“I could see the game becoming way too open for the (Central American) heat,” Hart reflected.

“Even at 2-0 down … (I said) ‘let’s get into the dressing room.’”

When Honduran forward Carlo Costly put the game out of reach at 3-0 before the half-hour mark, Hart admitted he knew “it wasn’t to be” in front of what was a breathtaking crowd.

Five goals later, it was done – and Canada's teary-eyed coach, who showed more passion and emotion than many of his players in the 8-1 loss, retreated to the bowels of a damp and dark Estadio Olimpico to face the very players that rolled on him minutes earlier.

“The game belongs to the players,” Hart said when asked why things came unraveled. “(My friends asked) how do you go from giving up two goals in seven games to giving up (eight).

“I don’t understand it.”

But while the lopsided result dumfounded the Canadian Soccer Association, the scoreline couldn’t have made things clearer for curious onlookers and supporters alike – which, in the context of the entire qualifying campaign, isn’t fair.

‘FREAK RESULT’

Interim head coach Colin Miller described the 8-1 drubbing as an outlier, a ‘freak result’ that, as Hart told the Sun, is difficult to explain.

As Miller prepares Canada’s latest group of national team campers for friendlies against Denmark and the U.S., Canadian supporters will surely have October’s result fresh in their minds when the Reds play their first matches since October.

“I’m not in control about what people think,” Hart said of Canada’s most recent qualifying run.

Which, to be fair to Hart, was Canada’s best showing since the 1998 qualification tournament, masked by a final third-round game that will leave a lasting legacy.

“I think it’s always going to come back to the last (Honduras) game,” Hart said. “People are not going to look beyond that … It doesn’t matter if I think it’s fair. It all depends on perception.”

In retrospect, no one will argue that Canada should have collected maximum points from its first three games, an accomplishment that would have rendered the team’s final trip to San Pedro Sula meaningless.

Instead, beyond amateurish finishing from Simeon Jackson, who missed a sitter from inside five metres, saw Canada register a goalless draw with Honduras at BMO Field in a match it dominated

“I went over the statistics,” Hart said of that game. “We had 13 chances on goal and they had none … But, you know, that’s a perception.

LOOKING FORWARD

One perception Hart acknowledged as being correct is Canada’s current player pool.

“Some are talking about Canada’s lack of depth, and they’re right,” he said. “But it’s not something that’s recent.”

“It’s 2012, we don’t have a league,” he continued, when prompted for a solution. “Everywhere I’ve travelled and sat down with some very respectable coaches, they want to know how you can do a job in a place that doesn’t have a league.”

Other than MLS, that is, which Hart said isn’t doing an adequate job of facilitating an environment to produce Canadian talent.

“It might need to be a league underneath MLS. Right now you have three MLS teams … Only one of those teams seems to have a solid commitment towards Canadian players."

OCCEAN CALLS HART ‘AMATEUR’

Former Canadian head coach Stephen Hart addressed a post-World Cup qualifying pot shot from a player whose pair of widely discussed absences handicapped Canada during trips to Panama and Honduras.

"(Training) wasn't top and lacked professionalism,” Olivier Occean told Radio-Canada. “(Hart) was like an amateur.”

In a phone interview this week, Hart told the Sun that although he didn’t like talking about individual players, amateurish is something he’s never been accused of being.

“It’s one player that made a statement,” he continued. “If this was coming from six or seven players you should take it seriously. It’s coming from one player so let’s be honest.”

“I’ve worked with a lot of players who have played at a much higher level than Olivier and a lot longer,” Hart said.

After scoring the winner in Canada’s first third-round qualifier in Havana, Cuba last June, Occean twice failed to travel to Central America due to a vague injury and a silly red card.

“I was a little surprised,” Hart said of Occean’s absences. “His country needed him in its two biggest games and he was not available. We’ve had our issues and I’m not surprised at that guy.”

Kurt Larson covered Canada throughout the most recent qualifying campaign, following the team to Cuba, Panama and Honduras.

Exclusive: Former Canadian national team head coach revisits Honduras, public perception and harsh comments

Stephen Hart continues to relive the unfathomable loss that will stay with him for the rest of his life.

“I’ve been through the details of that day over and over and over,” the former Canadian men’s national team head coach told the Toronto Sun in an exclusive interview from his Nova Scotia home this week.

That October day, of course, saw Hart’s troops loose a laugher in San Pedro Sula, where a draw against Honduras would have seen Canada through to the final stage of World Cup qualifying for the first time since 1998.

“I could see the game becoming way too open for the (Central American) heat,” Hart reflected.

“Even at 2-0 down … (I said) ‘let’s get into the dressing room.’”

When Honduran forward Carlo Costly put the game out of reach at 3-0 before the half-hour mark, Hart admitted he knew “it wasn’t to be” in front of what was a breathtaking crowd.

Five goals later, it was done – and Canada's teary-eyed coach, who showed more passion an